Prostate cancer surgery 'has little or no benefit' in extending life of patients

Sunday, 29 April 2012 11:10

Some experts now questioning whether disease should even be called cancer

New research into prostate cancer has revealed that surgery has little or no benefit in extending the life of a patient.

It found that those who had an operation to treat the cancer had less than three per cent chance of survival compared with those who had no treatment.

In half of all cases it is slow growing with suffers living for many years and often dying of another disease.

The surgery, known as radical prostatectomy, can often leave patients impotent or incontinent.

Dr Kate Holmes, head of research at the The Prostate Cancer Charity, said: 'Early data from the Pivot trial certainly suggests that surgery to remove the prostate does not provide any significant survival benefit for men with low to medium risk of prostate cancer.